Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/334

 VIII

A to the west of the town of Shimada flows the largest river on the Tokaidō—the Ōi River. In days of yore, when engineering was yet in its nonage, no bridge could be built, no practicable ferry-boat devised, on account of the great width of its bed and the swiftness of the current. Therefore travellers were carried across this river on small litters called rendai, borne aloft on the shoulders of naked coolies. But whenever the stream was swollen by heavy rains, all communication between the two shores was suddenly cut off.

By the time Miyuki, all spent with running, had reached the Ōi River, the torrential rainfall had had its effect and the current of the river was running with great fierceness. As, stumbling and staggering, she gained the bank, she called out in a faltering voice to the coolies:

"Can you tell me if a samurai, one Komazawa Jirōzayémon, has already crossed the river?"

"He has crossed but now; but as the river has 260